If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Help me design a handle for my cart...?

Ever have a project that causes you a sleepless night cause you canít figure out how to do something? Are you the kinda guy that does his best work while listening to his pillow? Me too, and I need the collective engineering power of the forums to help brainstorm a hinge inside a piece of square tubing.
Letís toss and turn together now, ready: picture a ladder laying horizontally on the ground. Your mission is to install a hinge in the middle of the ladder so you can lift up half the ladder at about a 45 degree angle while the other half stays flat on the ground. Sounds relatively simple, rightÖuntil you realize you want to do the same thing with a piece of square tubing, avoiding welding anything to the outside of the tubing as it must sleeve inside another piece of square, until itís pulled all the way out past the hinge. Oh, thatís the brain buster!!
I want to design a handle I can weld onto the bottom of the cart and it stays pushed in under the cart when not needed. The move the cart you pull the handle out all the way, lift it up to a standing position so you donít have to bend over to pull your cart around, then you return it to horizontal and itíll slide back inside itself out of the way. I donít have to necessarily use square tubing if you can come up with another way to do it using pipe or something else.
Thanks for you inputÖhereís hoping you lose some sleep too !!

how about using the standard telescoping size for the handle, but at the hinge area, drop down another size or two. This might give you enough room to let the hinge be welded to the outside of the small tubing (or even say a piece of bar stock slid back into each piece of the handle), but still be smaller than the main handle tube allowing it to fit inside the cart rail. SSS

Just off the top of my head..

The square stock (3) is used as railing inside the tubing (1) by drilling holes in the sides and welding from the outside. The pipe or bar (6) slides in and out along the bar stock (3) like a drawer by riding on the strap (7) which also provides bearing surface for the torque of turning. When fully extended, the slotted endcap (5) prevents the bar/pipe from coming out. The smaller pieces of square stock (4) are welded vertically in the same fashion as (3) and when the bar/pipe is extended and raised in travelling position "capture" the strap against the slotted endcap. To move the bar/pipe back to storage position, rotate it slightly past level and push in.

Improvement?

If one of the slide rails were slightly shorter and a small piece of stock was attached to the bottom of the top strap, the handle would "lock" in the stored position and a simple twisting motion before extending would release it. Just a thought.